Established over 40 years ago, dps has grown to become a market leader in the sourcing and distribution of fresh produce to some of the UK’s leading retailers. Our success is built on a strong foundation of putting our customers and growers first to ensure supply chain trust and transparency.

We are dedicated to developing the best people and pride ourselves on doing business the right way — operating responsibly to maximise our positive social and ethical impacts and minimise our environmental footprint.

Our Group Responsible Sourcing team is looking for a Microbiology Compliance Assistant to support the delivery of the Group-wide Surveillance strategy. The candidate will take ownership of the end to end surveillance testing process, with an enhanced focus around the management of microbiological risks within our supply chain.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with suppliers and growers to implement customer microbiology policies and standards.
• Review and maintain internal surveillance risk assessments, communicating updates to relevant teams on a periodic basis.
• Manage the end to end daily surveillance testing process, including surveillance testing schedule, sample submission and results review.
• Coordinate the microbiological compliance monitoring process, monitor and trend results, highlighting where thresholds have been exceeded.
• Investigate with suppliers in the event of microbiological surveillance fails to understand root causes and corrective actions, ensuring all details are captured in the appropriate tracker.
• Collect and review grower level risk assessments to support suppliers management of food safety risks, including chemical risks, microbiological risks and supplier responses to adverse weather events which could impact these risks.
• Support the collation of microbiological compliance documents, including microbiological analysis conducted on water, swabs and raw material.
• Stay up to date with legislative and standards / guidance within the industry and communicate to the relevant teams.
• Support SCTM with delivery of group lab management strategy, including collation and analysis of data as part of surveillance governance and reporting.

Key skills and experience

• Proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel, Power BI, and PowerPoint.
• Educated to university degree level, preferably in food science, microbiology, biological sciences or related science
• Interest in microbiological science and how it is applied to fresh produce and food safety
• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively with stakeholders across all levels and disciplines.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Strong project management and organisational skills
• Strong work ethic, deadline-focused.